Another good game tonight. I enjoy the 14-8 style games with a lot of offense, but it's these 2-1 victories that make me optimistic. Schilling once again pitched very well, going 7 innings, yielding only 3 hits. Timlin pitched a nigh-flawless 8th and Papelbon friggin' dominated the 9th. There were a couple questionable baserunning decisions, which ultimately stunted our offensive opportunities. Bruce Chen did his part, pitching very well for the O's, looking much like he did last year. He was eventually worn down by the Sox hitters. After five innings, Chen had only given up one run, walked one, and struck out two, but was already up to 91 pitches. So the Sox were extremely patient. Except for Wily Mo. Wily Mo looked real bad today. He saw 7 pitches. All fastballs. All on the outside corner to 8 inches outside. He swung at 6 and made contact with none. Though I wanted to see him get a few more plate appearances, I was happy to see Trot Nixon pinch hit for him in the 6th facing a righty with the bases loaded. Tomorrow should be an interesting game. Rodrigo Lopez always seems to pitch well against the Sox (or when he's on my fantasy team's bench...thankfully he's not nor will ever be on my team ever again. I don't care how talented he is). Also, we get to see how Tim Wakefield and Josh Bard make up for the disaster of last week.Edit: The "pop-up, strikeout, or double play" game when Kevin Millar comes up is a lot of fun. Way more fun than last year.

"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful." ~ Seneca

Sox just swept the Orioles. The umpiring was pretty bad, screwing Rodrigo Lopez out of some strikes and Papelbon later.Crisp jammed his finger and took the day off. Wakefield was pitching, so Bard was in. For some reason Tito thought it a good time to play Snow also. Fairly scrubby lineup today.Wakefield was better and Bard wasn't doing too badly. Plenty of balls by him, but none at any crucial moments. Lowell looked bad at the plate once again.Foulke on the other hand looked great. His velocity is back to where it was in 2004 and his control was stellar. He pitched a quick and painless eighth.Papelbon's ninth was a little different, in part due to the aformentioned shoddy officiating. His velocity was down, suggesting to me that maybe he isn't one of these closers that can come back out a few days in a row. His control was also a little off, best evidence by drilling Tejada in the elbow. Still, he managed to escape unscathed with a save, and the Sox with a win.

"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful." ~ Seneca

Nice to see Wake getting his first win. 6 IP, 1 run, unearned. Especially nasty in the 6th inning, started with a double, then a single putting runners on the corners. Then he struck out the side swinging.

Karl: She was a bit -- what's the word that you can use, cuz I don't wanna offend anyone?
Steve: Was she a homeless person?
Karl: Yeah but sort of mental homeless.

All sorts of reports flying around about Coco Crisp. Either:a.) he jammed his finger and will play on Tuesdayb.) he broke his knuckle and will be out ~4 weeksc.) he broke his finger and is out 6-8 weeksObviously this is a disappointment and like Manny breaking his finger sliding into home a couple years ago, this was completely avoidable. Assuming he'll be out for a while, this probably means Adam Stern won't be sent down to Pawtucket once his rule V time is up. He'll likely see the bulk of the action, sharing time with Wily Mo and either Dustin Mohr/Willie Harris, though my guess is Mohr. On the bright side, Stern did look good today and he is the Canadian Babe Ruth after all...Edit: Willie Harris is not a good idea.

"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful." ~ Seneca

All sorts of reports flying around about Coco Crisp. Either:a.) he jammed his finger and will play on Tuesdayb.) he broke his knuckle and will be out ~4 weeksc.) he broke his finger and is out 6-8 weeksObviously this is a disappointment and like Manny breaking his finger sliding into home a couple years ago, this was completely avoidable. Assuming he'll be out for a while, this probably means Adam Stern won't be sent down to Pawtucket once his rule V time is up. He'll likely see the bulk of the action, sharing time with Wily Mo and either Dustin Mohr/Willie Harris, though my guess is Mohr. On the bright side, Stern did look good today and he is the Canadian Babe Ruth after all...

Any definite reports?? I mean..I haven't even heard of this...when/how did it happen? This would definitely be a big blow if he broke his finger and was out for 6 weeks.

Wow that is terrible news, if true. All I heard was that he jammed his finger and was taking the afternoon off. I would guess Stern would get most of the playing time, since Pena doesn't play CF (as far as I know), and lord knows neither Trot nor Manny could be moved there either.

Karl: She was a bit -- what's the word that you can use, cuz I don't wanna offend anyone?
Steve: Was she a homeless person?
Karl: Yeah but sort of mental homeless.

Any definite reports?? I mean..I haven't even heard of this...when/how did it happen? This would definitely be a big blow if he broke his finger and was out for 6 weeks.

No definite reports that I know of. It's a bit of a surprise because he didn't even come out of the game after he jammed his finger. He even took fielding practice before the game today. It happened early in the game on Saturday when he tried stealing third. Bruce Chen saw him take off and threw to third. Coco made this godawful tumble and that's when he did it.

"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful." ~ Seneca

Bah. Well, on the bright side, it really doesn't cost us more than a fraction of a win, and taking variance into account, we could be better off without him. Way to kill the momentum though. Season was going quite smoothly until this crap.

"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful." ~ Seneca

Heh...Bronson Arroyo hit another home run. That's 2....about as many pitches as Wily Mo Pena has not swung at this year. Trot's got a mild groin strain or something. Doesn't seem serious. He wasn't going to be playing tomorrow anyway.

"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful." ~ Seneca

Heh...Bronson Arroyo hit another home run. That's 2....about as many pitches as Wily Mo Pena has not swung at this year.

A pitcher who can hit homeruns? Dammit put that guy in left field!!! Ever heard of Babe Ruth?Nice game for Lowell, 3 for 3 so far in front of the new crowd. I can't see the games out here in NY, just have radio. Who threw out the first pitch?

Karl: She was a bit -- what's the word that you can use, cuz I don't wanna offend anyone?
Steve: Was she a homeless person?
Karl: Yeah but sort of mental homeless.

A pitcher who can hit homeruns? Dammit put that guy in left field!!! Ever heard of Babe Ruth?Nice game for Lowell, 3 for 3 so far in front of the new crowd. I can't see the games out here in NY, just have radio. Who threw out the first pitch?

My attention was divided at that moment. They brought out living members of the 1946 team, so probably one or all of them. I tried not to watch the opening ceremonies...between the old people and the kid with cancer there was too much death looming for my tastes. And how about shortstop. Manny can hit, but Gonzalez...

"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful." ~ Seneca